Rebula Reia

Boris’s tip: Smoked salmon and vegetable tempura in soy sauce.

Is Rebula a yellow wine? Perhaps as a grape variety, but Rebula m (i.e. the macerated Rebula) has the colour of old gold and bottled amber. Its tears trickle down slowly the inside of the glass when swirled and foretell a full-bodied wine. The bouquet is surprisingly fresh, with fragrant aromas of spring flowers, fruit and citrus fruits, accompanied by balsamic notes and hints of vanilla, nuts and cinnamon. In the mouth, the wine meets our expectations of a rich wine with fruity balsamic character, rounded off with hints of agreeable tannins and pleasant minerality. The acidity and the tannins forecast long life to this wine, whilst the moderate alcohol content increases its drinkability. The wine boasts a long and layered aftertaste, with hints of crunchy cherries from the Brda region and sun-dried figs. The final reward for the taste buds is a hint of slightly smoked fruit.

Parring with wine: Rebula ‘m’ may be served as an exceptional aperitif wine, suitable for pairing with prosciutto, bacon, marinated trout with herbs, smoked salmon, full-fat cheeses, vegetable tempura and other savoury deep-fried dishes, including squid, prawns and whitebait. Later in the meal, the wine pairs well with oily river and sea fish, roast suckling pig, grilled lamb, different poultry dishes, but especially with the more flavourfull herbs and spices.

ORANGE WINE

Orange wine, also known as skin-contact white wine, skin-fermented white wine, or amber wine, is a type of wine made from white wine grapes where the grape skins are not removed, as in typical white wine production, and stay in contact with the juice for days or even months. This contrasts with conventional white wine production, which involves crushing the grapes and quickly moving the juice off the skins into the fermentation vessel. The skins contain colour pigment, phenols and tannins that would normally be considered undesirable for white wines, while for red wines skin contact and maceration is a vital part of the winemaking process that gives red wine its color, flavor, and texture.

MACERATION

Maceration is the winemaking process where tannins coloring agents and flavor compounds—are leached from the grape skins, seeds and stems into the must. To macerate is to soften by soaking, and maceration is the process by which the red wine receives its red color, since raw grape juice is clear-grayish in color.